The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara enters its Sunday afternoon game at UC Davis with an overall record of 6-8 and a league record of 1-3. The Gauchos dropped their first two league games of the year, at UC Riverside (81-78) and at Cal State Fullerton (73-59), but bounced back at home on Jan. 7 with a 77-74 win over Long Beach State. In their last outing, however, the Gauchos dropped a tough 70-66 decision to visiting UC Irvine. It was UCSB's first home loss of the season. The Gauchos have gone 4-8 since opening the regular season with wins over San Francisco and San Diego.

Oddball Schedule Has UCSB Playing Two Games In 16 Days
The Gauchos were one of four Big West Conference schools to play four games in eight days to open the 2006 league season. On the heels of that arduous run, however, UCSB will be challenged to avoid getting rusty. When the Gauchos plays at UC Davis on Sunday afternoon, it will be their only game over an 11 day stretch. It will also be just one of two games they will play over a 16 day period. In addition to the Aggies, UCSB will travel to Cal Poly on Jan. 21 for a 4:00 p.m. game against the rival Mustangs. The Gauchos will not play another home game until they host Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:00 p.m. Interestingly, that will be UCSB's first Thursday night game of the season, a traditional league-game night.

Anteaters Take It Outside To Hand UCSB First Home Loss
Aaron Fitzgerald had 15 points, Ross Schraeder had 14 and Nic Campbell added 13 to lead UC Irvine to a 70-66 win over UCSB in the Gauchos last game on Jan. 9. The Anteaters made 11 three-point baskets, tying the high by a Santa Barbara opponent this season. Schraeder made 4-of-10 shots from behind the arc, Campbell nailed 3-of-4 and Fitzgerald hit 2-of-5. The Gauchos jumped out of the gates quickly, taking an 11-3 lead with 16:14 to go in the first half, but UCI responded to take a 29-28 halftime edge. The lead see-sawed for much of the second half, but the Anteaters took a 55-54 advantage with just under six minutes remaining and they never trailed again. UCSB was paced by senior guard Cecil Brown who led four players in double-figures with 15. Brown, who was not expected to play because of a knee injury, was cleared earlier in the day and although he did not start, he played 25 minutes and made 7-of-13 shots. Sophomore forward Chris Devine had 12 points and seven rebounds while senior forward Cameron Goettsche had 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Joe See added 10 points. UCSB made 52.8% of its shots and UCI hit 49.0%. The teams also combined for just 11 turnovers in the well-played game.

Possible Starters - Notes
G - Alex Harris - In his last two games he made 7-of-13 shots overall, 4-of-8 three-pointers.
G - Joe See - In his last eight games, he has gone 27-of-44 from the field, 61.4%.
G - Cecil Brown - Has scored in double-figures in each of his last 12 games.
F - Chris Devine - His field goal percentage of 61.9% ranks him 25th nationally.
F - Cameron Goettsche - Had season-high eight rebounds vs. UC Irvine.

Possible Reserves - Notes
G - Josh Davis - Three of his five three-point baskets this season have come in last two games.
G - Lance Hurdle - Missed all four of his free throw attempts in the last two games.
G - James Powell - Freshman guard will redshirt the 2005-06 season.
G - Derek Rasp - Played a season-low three minutes in each of the last two games.
G - Michael Chambers - Scored a season-high eight points, making all three shots, vs. Portland.
F - Chidi Ajufo - Has not played in a game since the start of Big West play.
F - Tom Garlepp - After scoring 11 points vs. Long Beach, he was scoreless vs. UC Irvine.
F - Glenn Turner - Ranks eighth in minutes per game (12.5) and fifth in rebounds (3.5).
F - Chris Moore - Has not played in either of the last two games.
C - David Massey - At 7-foot-3 he is still the tallest player in program history. Is redshirting.

The Bob Williams FileBob Williams is in his eighth season as the head coach at UC Santa Barbara. Last year his team struggled with injuries and finished 11-18 overall and 7-11 in the Big West Conference. It marked the first time that a Williams-coached UCSB team finished below the .500 mark in league play. During the 2004-05 season, however, Williams became the fifth UCSB coach to record 100 wins. Prior to last season, he had guided the Gauchos to three straight winning seasons, the first time the program accomplished the feat since 1987-88 through 1989-90. In 2002-03, Williams' Gauchos went 18-14 overall and 14-4 in league. The 2002-03 Big West mark earned Santa Barbara its first-ever Big West regular season championship along with a postseason trip to the National Invitation Tournament. Additionally, the success earned Williams his second Big West Coach of the Year award, his first coming after an impressive 1999 campaign. In 2001-02, Williams guided UCSB to its first Big West Conference Tournament Championship ever and first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years. Including this season, Williams' UCSB teams have posted a 113-105 (.518) overall record and a 74-50 (.597) record in Big West games. Prior to his arrival at UCSB, he spent eight years at UC Davis and in those eight years, his teams recorded 20 or more wins five times and a 158-76 record. In Williams' final season, the Aggies went 31-2, won the NCAA Division II National Championship and he was named NABC Division II Coach of the Year. Including two seasons at Menlo College, Williams has a record of 302-205 (.596) at four-year schools.

The Opponents
UCSB and future-Big West opponent UC Davis have played 10 times in a series that began in 1939. The Gauchos hold an 8-2 advantage over the Aggies. UCSB and UCD split a pair of non-conference games last season. The Gauchos won the game in Santa Barbara, 67-62 and the Aggies won in Davis, 72-63. UCSB and Cal Poly have played 83 times through the years. The Gauchos hold a decisive 57-26 advantage and have won the last four in a row and 14 of the last 16. Last year, UCSB defeated the Mustangs in San Luis Obispo by a score of 78-66 and in Santa Barbara by a 76-56 count.

The Gauchos On The Road
UCSB is having its problems away from the Thunderdome. With losses at Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, North Carolina, Arizona State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Loyola Marymount, the Gauchos are 0-7 on the road this season. UCSB was 2-13 in true road games last season and 1-1 in neutral site games. After opening the 2004-05 regular season with an overtime win at San Diego State, UCSB rattled-off 11 straight losses away from home. The 11 consecutive road losses was the longest streak since the final two games of the 1995-96 season and the first 10 of the 1996-97 season. The Gauchos' only other road win last season came at Cal Poly. Including the first seven road games this season and the final road game of the 2003-04 season, UCSB has lost 21 of its last 23 and 19 of its last 20 true road games.

Three-Point Deficit
Santa Barbara is off to a 1-3 start in Big West play and one of the primary reasons has been three-point shooting. The Gauchos have made fewer three-pointers than their opponents in all four league contests. In each of the last two games, a win over Long Beach State and a loss to UC Irvine, the opponents have made 11 three-point baskets, the highest total of the season. In addition, the four league opponents are shooting 38.6% from beyond the arc as compared to UCSB's 30.9%. Finally, the Gauchos have been outscored in Big West play by 18 points and their opponents have made 18 more three-point baskets in the four games.

Costly Throws
In Monday night's loss to UC Irvine, the Gauchos didn't go to the free throw line often and when they did, they weren't very successful. UCSB made just 3-of-7 from the line, including a dismal 1-for-5 in the second half. Prior to the poor performance against UCI, the Gauchos had actually shown some improvement in their free throw shooting. While they are making 64.7% for the year, they had made 77-of-110, 70.0%, in the five games prior to the UCI encounter.

Cleaning Up Their Act
Talk about a clean game. UCSB and UC Irvine combined for just 11 turnovers in their game on Monday night. The Gauchos tied their season-low with just seven turnovers and the Anteaters committed just four. It was the fewest combined total of turnovers in at least five years. In addition, the teams combined for just 21 fouls and 19 free throw attempts. No wonder we were out of there well before 9:00 p.m.

A Tale Of Two Teams
With apologies to Charles Dickens, the 2005-06 season really has become a Tale of Two Teams for the Gauchos. One look at the home and road records and its easy to see that UCSB is a very different team at the Thunderdome than elsewhere. A closer look at the statistics can give an even better understanding of just how different the Gauchos are at home than they are on the road. Santa Barbara is a solid 6-1in home games this season, but it has gone 0-7 in road games. UCSB is better at home in virtually every category on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor. To the right, please note a statistical comparison between home and road games.

On The Mark
UCSB enters the week with a field goal percentage of 45.3%. The Gauchos have shot 50.0% or better in each of the last three games, four of the last five and five of the 14 games this season. By contrast, last year UCSB made 40.7% of its shots for the season, the lowest mark in the Bob Williams era. Also last season the Gauchos made 50.0% or better in just two of 29 games. In fact, in 2004-05, Santa Barbara made 45.0% or better just eight times and the longest streak of the season was three games in a row. This year, the Gauchos have hit 45.0% or better eight times in just 14 games. In the last three contests, UCSB has made 76-of-148 shots from the field, 51.4%.

The Other Side Of The Coin
While the Gauchos are shooting the ball well recently, so too have their opponents. While the opposition is making 43.9% for the season overall, UCSB's Big West opponents have been significantly better. In the first four games of the league schedule, the opposition has made 50.0% or better twice and they have made 114-of-229 overall, 49.8%. In the Gauchos' Big West opener at UC Riverside on Jan. 2, the Highlanders shot 55.4% from the field, the highest mark by an opponent this season. In the next game, Cal State Fullerton made 50.0%. It was the first time this season that UCSB's defense had allowed consecutive opponents to make 50.0% or better from the field.

Help, Cecil! Help!
Senior guard Cecil Brown was supposed to miss 7-10 days with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, but he was cleared to play on Monday afternoon and then scored a team-high 15 points in a reserve role against UC Irvine on Monday night. Brown leads the Gauchos in scoring at 13.9 points per game, and since scoring just four points in the team's season opener against San Francisco, he has really heated up. He has scored in double-figures in each of his last 12 games, the longest double-figure streak by a UCSB player since the 2001-02 season, and over that span he has averaged 14.7 points per game while making 68-of-148 shots from the field, 45.9%. In addition, Brown leads the Gauchos in three-pointers with 24, a figure that ties his previous single-season best set during his sophomore campaign in 2003-04. He has made at least one three-pointer in each of the last 12 games and has made two or more in five of the last six. Also, since opening the year making 2-of-11 from three-point range in the first three games, he has made 22-of-51, 43.1%. Brown scored a career-high 28 points in a Dec. 7 home win over Pepperdine. It was the highest scoring game by a UCSB player since Mark Hull had 28 in overtime against San Diego State in a National Invitation Tournament game in 2003. In addition, in UCSB's Dec. 23 game at Fresno State, Brown had a career-high eight rebounds and a season-high five assists. He has had four or more rebounds eight times this season. Finally, Brown has moved into second on the team in assists at 2.2 per game and he has had three or more six times, including three of the last four games.

Devine Is Fine
Sophomore forward Chris Devine remains UCSB's hottest player. He is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game, but in the last seven games has seen his scoring average jump from 8.4 per game. In the last seven contests, Devine has scored 117 points, 16.7 per game, the most of any Gaucho over that span. His current streak of seven straight double-figure scoring games is the second longest by a Gaucho in the past two seasons. Only Cecil Brown's current 12 game streak is longer. Last Saturday against Long Beach, Devine scored 20 points, his second-highest scoring effort this season. He had 12 more, making 6-of-8 shots from the field, on Monday against UC Irvine. In UCSB's Big West opener at UC Riverside, Devine scored a career-high 21 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds. It was the first double-double of his career and it came on the heels of a 19 point game in a win over Portland. He also had 19 at Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 4. He has had 19 or more in four of the last five games. Devine has made at least half of his shots in 12 of 14 games and he has made 60.0% or better 10 times. Overall, Devine is shooting a team-high 61.9%, but in the last seven games, he has made 46-of-68 shots from the field, 67.6%. By making six field goals in the last game against UCI, Devine is now averaging 5.0 made field goals per game, the minimum needed to enter the NCAA statistical rankings. At 61.9%, Devine ranks 25th in the nation in field goal percentage. In addition to ranking second on the team in scoring, He has reclaimed the team-lead in rebounding at 5.6 per game and he has had five or more 10 times.

The Harris Poll
Sophomore guard Alex Harris took a huge step in the right direction in last Saturday's win over Long Beach State. Against the 49ers, Harris made 5-of-9 shots overall, 2-of-4 from three-point range, and had a career-high 17 points. He followed-up his Long Beach performance with a decent game against UC Irvine. Against the Anteaters, Harris was 2-of-4 from the field and all of his attempts were from three-point range. In his first two games this season, he made 11-of-19 shots, 57.9%. In the eight games that followed, however, Harris struggled in a big way making just 20-of-76, 26.3%. In the last two games he has started to recover making 7-of-13 shots overall, 53.8%, and 4-of-8 from three-point range, 50.0%. His seven field goals in the last two games have come in a total of 63 minutes. In his five previous games, Harris played a total of 131 minutes and made just four field goals. The 6-foot-6 Alameda, Calif., native ranks third on the team in rebounding at 4.6 per game and he paces the team in assists at 2.8 per game. He has had seven assists in the last two games, 3.5 per game. Also, Harris' first career double-double, a 14-point, 10-rebound performance on Nov. 21 against San Diego, was the first by a Gaucho guard since the 2002-03 season.

Wait And See
Senior guard Joe See has started each of the last six games and in that time he has been one of the team's most consistent bright spots. Since going through a three-game slump in which he was scoreless, 0-for-12 from the field overall and 0-for-8 from three-point range, See has regained his shooting touch. In the last eight games he has averaged 9.2 points per game, making 27-of-44 shots overall, 61.4%, and 11-of-25 from three-point range, 44.0%. In his six starts, See has averaged 11.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, and he has made 24-of-39 from the field, 61.5%, and 10-of-23 from three-point range, 43.5%. On the year, See has improved his overall field goal percentage to 49.3% and his three-point percentage to 42.6%. He had a season-high five three-pointers and scored a season-high 17 points in the opener against San Francisco. Finally, with his 20 three-point buckets this year, See now has 107 as a Gaucho, eighth all-time.

Cam I Am
Senior forward Cameron Goettsche had one of his best all-around games of the season in Monday's loss to UC Irvine. Goettsche had 11 points, his second double-figure scoring effort of the year, and had a season-high eight rebounds. He is now second on the team in rebounding at 4.9 per game, and is fifth in scoring at 7.6 per outing. In the last seven games, Goettsche has averaged 9.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots per game. He has swatted at least one shot in each of the last eight games and leads the team with 16. Goettsche now has 54 career blocked shots, eighth all-time. On Dec. 20, in a win over Sonoma State, Goettsche scored a career-high 21 points.

Just Joshing
Senior swingman Josh Davis is rebounding from a shooting slump that plagued him throught the team's first 12 games. Davis missed three games with a sprained ankle, but in his first nine games this year, he made just 11-of-48 shots overall, 22.9%, and 2-of-14 from three-point territory, 14.3%. In the last two games, Davis made 7-of-19 shots overall, a modest 36.8%, and 3-of-9 from three-point range, 33.3%. His 11-point effort against Long Beach State was his second double-figure game of the season and the three three-point baskets he has made in the last two game are one more than he made in his previous nine appearances. Davis scored a season-high 13 points on Dec. 3 at Loyola Marymount. He does have 13 steals this season, ranking him in a tie for third on the team. Davis now has 95 career steals and needs just four to move into the school's all-time top-10.

From Down Under To Back On Top
Freshman forward Tom Garlepp scored 11 points in UCSB's win over Long Beach State on Jan. 7. It was his second double-figure scoring effort of the year. In the next game, however, he did not even attempt a shot. While Garlepp is a solid offensive player, he has played mostly behind one of UCSB's best players, Chris Devine, and is averaging just 11.8 minutes per game. In the last game against UCI, he played seven minutes and did not attempt a shot. He is averaging just 8.0 shots per 40 minutes of action, among the three lowest marks on the team.